1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an on-board navigation terminal, and a navigation controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional on-board navigation terminal has been designed to receive road map information from a center system as a navigation controller, to store the received read data information in storing means such as a memory or the like, and to execute a navigating application by reading the stored road map information at the right time. At the center system, the road map information to be managed is updated as needed. Thus, the on-board navigation terminal periodically receives the road map information from the center system, or receives the road map information on a demand basis, and then updates the stored road map information.
Such a configuration of the conventional on-board navigation terminal sometimes defers awareness that the state of the road map information is not yet updated after its reception from the center system, or that the update of the received road map information is unnecessary. This results in vast amount of transmission time and costs. Further, this leads to a tremendous amount of data being held in the on-board navigation terminal, and so on.
The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide an on-board navigation terminal capable of shortening communication time, and reducing communication costs and the quantity of data held in the on-board navigation terminal side by transferring only necessary relevant information between the transmitting and receiving sides which are responsible for transmission and reception of the relevant information concerning a navigating application. Another object is to provide a navigation controller.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an on-board navigation terminal, comprising map data storing means for storing map data; communicating means for performing communications with an external navigation controller; received data storing means for storing received data containing relevant information concerning a navigating application transmitted from the navigation controller and received through the communicating means, based on unique information transmitted through the communicating means to the navigation controller; and data generating means for generating available data based on the map data stored in the map data storing means and the received data stored in the received data storing means.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, unique information recording-reproducing means is provided for recording or reproducing unique information specifying a content of the relevant information transmitted from the navigation controller.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, unique information recording-changing means is provided for changing the unique information recorded by the unique information recording-reproducing means depending on what kind of change is made therein.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes personal information of a user using the navigating application.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes vehicle information unique to a vehicle.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes terminal information indicative of a type of the terminal itself.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes service information concerning a service of the application for application.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, automatic unique information updating means is provided for automatically updating the unique information recorded by the unique information recording-reproducing means.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the automatic unique information updating means updates vehicle information indicative of a traveling state of a vehicle.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the automatic unique information updating means updates operation history information indicative of an operation history of the on-board navigation terminal.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an on-board navigation terminal, comprising map data storing means for storing map data; communicating means for performing communications with an external navigation controller; identification information recording-reproducing means for recording or reproducing identification information for identifying unique information recorded or reproduced by unique information recording-reproducing means provided in the navigation controller; received data storing means for receiving received data from the navigation controller, containing relevant information concerning a content specified by the unique information which is identified based on the identification information reproduced by the identification information recording-reproducing means and transmitted through communicating means to the navigation controller, and for storing the received data; and data generating means for generating available data based on the map data stored in the map data storing means, and the received data stored in the received data storing means.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the received data storing means stores received data containing, as relevant information, difference information indicative of a difference between a conventional map and a newly changed latest map.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the received data storing means stores received data containing specific relevant information corresponding to the unique information.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the received data storing means stores received data containing, as relevant information, additional information added to a navigating application.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, charging means is provided for receiving or transmitting charging information concerning a service rendered from the navigation controller through the communicating means.
According to the on-board navigation terminal of the invention, the charging means is provided with prepaid card driving means for driving a loaded prepaid card.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a navigation controller, comprising communicating means for performing communications with an external on-board navigation terminal; transmission data storing means for storing a plurality of transmission data containing a plurality of relevant information concerning a navigating application utilized in the on-board navigation terminal; and transmission data determining means for determining transmission data containing relevant information corresponding to unique information, among the plurality of transmission data stored in the transmission data storing means, when the unique information or identification information specifying the unique data is received though the communicating means from the on-board navigation terminal, and for transmitting the determined transmission data to the on-board navigation terminal through the communicating means.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, unique information recording-reproducing means is provided for recording or reproducing the unique information specifying the content of the relevant information.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, unique information recording-changing means is provided for changing the unique information recorded by the unique information recording-reproducing means depending on what kind of change is made therein.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes personal information of a user corresponding to received identification information.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes vehicle information unique to a vehicle on which an on-board navigation terminal corresponding to received identification information is mounted.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes terminal information indicative of types of a plurality of on-board navigation terminals.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the unique information recording-changing means changes service information concerning a plurality of services offered by the navigating application.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, change detecting means for detecting information changed with an elapse of time in the on-board navigation terminal side at every fixed time, and automatic unique information updating means is provided for automatically updating the unique information recorded by the unique information recording-reproducing means depending on the change detected by the change detecting means.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the automatic unique information updating means updates vehicle information indicative of a traveling state of a vehicle on which an on-board navigation terminal mounted corresponding to received identification information is mounted.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the automatic unique information updating means updates operation history information indicative of an operation history of an on-board navigation terminal corresponding to received identification information.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the transmission data storing means stores transmission data containing, as relevant information, difference information indicative of a difference between a conventional map and a newly changed latest map.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the transmission data storing means stores transmission data containing specific relevant information corresponding to the unique information.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the transmission data storing means stores transmission data containing, as relevant information, additional information added to the navigating application.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, charging means is provided for transmitting or receiving charging information concerning a service rendered to the on-board navigation terminal through the communicating means.
According to the navigation controller of the invention, the charging means does not make a charge till a predetermined condition is met from a start of the service rendered to the on-board navigation terminal.
The above and other objects and the attendant advantages of the invention will become readily apparent by referring to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.